former governor didn't know cameras were rolling at a may 17th fund-raiser in boca raton, florida. >> for three years, all everybody's been told is don't worry, we'll take care of you. how are you going to do it, two months before the elections, to convince everybody you've got to take care of yourself? >> well, there are 47% of the people who are with the president no matter what. there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it. they believe it's an entitlement and the government should give it to them and they will vote for this president no matter what. the president starts off with 48, 49, he starts off with ia huge number. these are people who pay no income tax. 47% of americans pay no income tax. so, our message of low taxes doesn't connect. he'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. i mean, that's what they sell

every four years. and so, my job is not to worry about those people. i'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. what i have to do is convince the 5% to 10% in the center that are independents, or thoughtful with voting one way or another depend upon, some occasions, emotion, whether they like the guy or not. >> also in that video, romney makes a joke about the background of his father, who was born of american parents in mexico. >> if i had been born of mexican parents, i'd have a better shot of winning this, but he was -- unfortunately, born of americans living in mexico, but he lived there for a number of years, and i say that jokingly, but it would be helpful being latino. >> well, obama for america campaign manager jim ma mess in issued this statement -- "it's shocking that a candidate for president of the united states would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy

donors that half of the american people view themselves as victims entitled to handouts and are unwilling to take personal responsibility for their lives. it's hard to serve as president for all americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation." in a late-night news conference, romney responded. >> well, you know, it's not elegantly stated, let me put it that way. i'm speaking off the cuff in response to a question, and i'm sure i could state it more clearly and in a more effective way, but it's a message which i'm going to carry and continue to carry, which is, look, the president's approach is attractive to people who are not paying taxes because, frankly, my discussion about lowering taxes isn't as attractive to them. and therefore, i'm not likely to draw them into my campaign as effectively as those who are in the middle. >> let me britain in anne kornblut for "the washington post" and a politics reporter for roll call. good to see both of you. let me play reaction across the

board, across the networks that came in this morning. >> this is one of the worst weeks for any presidential candidate in a general election that any of us can remember around this table. >> somewhere between i think six and seven on the richter scale. so it does some damage, i think, but i don't know if the foundation is completely damaged by all of this. >> it's so contemptuous, so condescending. >> everybody has their youtube moment in politics. >> i think these videos are devastating and they're devastating because they're actually not shocking. >> anne, is this just one more thing that's throwing the campaign off message at a time when they want to establish their message or is it something bigger? >> it seems like it might be something bigger. they've gone to some lengths to describe it as just a bump in the road. they're saying they're going to recover from it and they're going to keep campaigning, obviously. but by the way they scrambled to do the press conference last night, and i think judging from the reaction that you've seen there, and i would add to that david brooks' column today in "the new york times," the reaction, the condemnation of it has been pretty swift and pretty

harsh even from some republicans, although some are rallying around him. one way or another, because this wasn't a gaffe, because he went out and said, okay, i stated it inartfully, but i meant the fundamentals, it's going to be the topic of discussion that not just mitt romney, but i would suspect congressional candidates around the country are going to have to talk about now. >> let me bring up a little bit of the david brooks column. it reads in part, this morning from "the new york times," "as a description of america today, romney's comment is a country club fantasy. it's what self-satisfied millionaires say to each other. it reinforces every negative view people have about romney." shira, is this tape potentially going to alienate the middle that he needs to be courting right now? >> it is going to alienate the middle, but what i think is really notable about his comments in that video, he talks about the 47% and then he talks about this 5% to 10% of independents. well, over the summer, that has not been his strategy at all. he has not been reaching out to independents at all. the romney campaign in

particular has really viewed this contest as a base election, which is probably in many ways why he also said those things. it was to drive out the base -- excuse me it was to raise money from a group of people so he can drive out the base. this is a base election. this is not about wooing independents. >> this also comes just hours after mitt romney addressed the hispanic chamber of commerce, anne, in los angeles. obviously, a group that the republicans have said they want to make some inroads against. how serious are those comments, do you think? >> oh, i mean, look, this is going to reverberate i think with all kinds of demographic groups. it's going to reverberate with working-class white people who don't pay taxes. it's going to reverberate with women, it's going to reverberate with military families. i don't think there's any group that in some way won't either hear about what he said or see themselves somehow reflected in it, but i agree with shira. i think that given their focus has been pretty intently on the base for all this time, usually you try to do two things -- you

try to win the base, turn out the base and win, peel off some independents in the middle. they're going to have to re-double their efforts if they want to go to the middle again. >> i want to bring in david corn, washington bureau chief for "mother jones." good to see you. also, author of the book "showdown." david, give us a little background. where did you get this video? tell us a little bit about where this all came from. >> what happened was, i'd been doing lots of stories which we've talked about on the show previously, about mitt romney's bain investments and all sorts of companies, including one that was based in china that was taking jobs that were being outsourced from american firms. and a fellow named james carter, who happens to be the grandson of jimmy carter, was a researcher, was sending me some clips about this stuff, and he came across some video that had mitt romney that had been posted on the internet a couple months ago, about mitt romney talking about an investment that i had apparently written about. and he said, you know, this is

kind of interesting. should we, you know, try to find the guy who posted this? and without knowing what this person may or may not have, i said, sure, go find him. and he was able to track him down anonymously, found him, made contact with him and asked if he would talk to me. and the fellow said yes. and through twitter and e-mails, spent a long time going back and forth discussing what he had available. and eventually -- >> did you go into it at all knowing this was suppoerpent tiy taped? >> no, because once i saw the tape it was pretty clear. and in the cannons of journalism, it's a, you know, tried and true tradition to get information that other people may have gotten through ways that you would not get it yourself but still to use it. >> but to a similar point, the fact is, as you know, david, as i know, candidates tend to talk more freely at these closed-door fund-raisers. >> exactly. >> we all remember barack obama's comments from 2008 in pennsylvania that people cling

to guns and religion. he did overcome that, obviously, we should say, but is there anything shocking or surprising or terribly different about this? >> well, i have to say, when i watch the tape for the first time -- and this is about 70 minutes long -- much of it is boiler plate and exactly what you -- >> 70 or 17? >> 70, including the time when he sat down and ate with the folks there. much of it is boiler plate, what you would expect him to say at a fund raise yes, but when he got to the question and the 47% answer, i was just stunned. it was the sweeping quality of his remarks. he wasn't just saying obama gets votes from people who don't pay taxes, but that all obama voters are moochers and victims and free-loaders, and it seemed to me he was setting up this election or saw the election as a clash between the strivers in our society, those who succeed on their own initiative, like him, himself and the people in the room, and the rest of us,

everybody else. and that to me showed a certain mindset that i thought really, you know, needed to be conveyed. then you know, there was a lot else on the tape. today we have a story out in which he sort of contradicts what he has said publicly about his position on israel and the palestinian conflict. so, again, a lot behind the scenes that he just won't tell the voters themselves in public. >> you know, since you mentioned the word freeloaders, i want to play just a little bit more, or read just a little bit more from david brooks' column today, because i think it raises another question about the impact of this tape. he said, "it suggests that he really doesn't know much about the country he inhabits. who are these freeloaders? is it the iraq war veteran who goes to the va? is it the student getting a loan to go to college? is it the retiree on social security or medicare?" and anne, one of the things that occurred to me is that ann romney did a good job, by most accounts, at the convention of really showing her husband as this person who was very caring,

very involved in his community, very involved in his church. does this offset that? does this hurt that image? anne? >> oh, sorry. i didn't know you were addressing me here. yes, i think it absolutely does undercut it, not only because the message is completely counter to the message that ann romney was trying to put out there, but also because it's coming sequentially in time, you know, after the conventions. people traditionally start paying attention around the conventions through labor day. i think between now and leading up to this debate, any word that's uttered, any revelation that occurs is going to have, carry more weight than it would have at the time. now, i think the campaign can console themselves that they can still turn back to ann romney, that that convention was not a one-off event. she can still campaign for him. but what's curious is we don't see the two of them together today on the stump, for example. he's doing some fund-raising. so, i would keep an eye on his campaign schedule and hers and see whether they try to bring her out there a little more,

have her do more interviews, even revive some of the talk from just two or three weeks ago. >> shira, do you think that's what might happen, that they might have to be a little more nimble, make some adjustments based on what happened? >> yeah, i think we'll be seeing some shifts in the coming days. certainly, the way they respond to this is an example of how not to handle a situation exactly like this, by issuing a statement and then a hastily called press conference last night, late in the evening. that's not how campaigns want to handle an incident like this. >> i also want to talk about the 47%, because i think that obviously perked up a lot of ears and begged for sort of a fact-check. well, the statistic is basically true. 47% of the country doesn't pay federal income tax, but most of those people are either too poor, which means they make under $20,000 a year, or they're senior citizens, because they don't get taxed on social security. and then there are 3,000 people who made more than about $2.17 million and paid no federal income taxes. a lot of that is often capital

gains. so, what are we -- go ahead, david. >> i would say, the interesting thing here is that mitt romney is equating that 47% with the 47% who support barack obama. now, as far as i'm guessing, david geffen might be paying taxes. chris, if you voted for barack obama, you're probably paying a few taxes. so, he was really sort of mischaracterizing two different sets of the population. and if you don't pay those taxes, you know, but you're still paying payroll taxes and sales taxes and you're working poor or are under the poverty level, does that mean you still don't believe in personal responsibility and that mitt romney shouldn't care for you? so, i mean, he was really jumbling a lot of things together there. and if he wants to hide behind that fact, i mean, it's not going to give him a lot of cover. >> but back to shira and anne's point, and shira, let me ask you this. obviously, we're going to see fund-raising going on as a result of this. we've seen it already. so, there's no doubt about that. but is this the kind of thing that will fire up the

conservative base? >> i don't know about that. i think conservatives so far have had kind of a mixed reaction. i saw erick erickson on twitter, for example, kind of stand by romney a little more. then we've seen other conservatives say romney should stand down. so far, romney appears to be standing by his comments, just calling them inarticulate or something like that. we'll see in the coming days. the bigger problem here is that this is after a series of bad events over the last week. romney's campaign is not in the upswing in terms of momentum. it's exactly the opposite. >> without a doubt. we're going to talk much more about this coming up later on in the hour, but i want to thank shira toeplitz, anne kornblut and david corn. thank you so much. in afghanistan today, mail tant group says a suicide bombing that killed at least 12 people was revenge for the american-made anti-muslim film. the bomber, reportedly a female, drove a car full of explosives into a minibus carrying foreign workers on their way to kabul airport this morning.

coming up, senator chris kuhns from the foreign relations committee will join me to talk about these recent crises around the globe. [ man ] out! your kind is not welcome here! nor your odd predilections! miracle whip is tangy and sweet, not odd. [ man ] it's evil! if you'd try it, you'd know. she speaketh the truth! [ crowd gasps ] [ woman ] reverend? ♪ can i have some? ♪ that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. so consider an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement plans, they help save you up to thousands in out-of-pocket costs. call today to request a free decision guide.

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some conservatives are rallying around mitt romney's latest controversy, saying the 47% who support the president don't pay taxes and lack personal responsibility. redstate.com editor in chief erick erickson tweets -- "seeing these undercover videos actually makes me wish romney would talk more about this issue on the trail." from conservative blogger michelle m amalkin -- "this election is about america's makers versus america's takers. romney should never be defensive or apologetic about making that clear." let me bring in congressman xavier becerra, vice chair of the democratic caucus.

thank you for joining us. >> thank you, chris. >> republicans point out that essentially what governor romney said in his defense, is that it is about a free people, free enterprise, free market, a consumer-driven approach. is this, as he suggests, just an important contrast between the two candidates running for president? >> well, it certainly points out a contrast, where mitt romney says he's not going to worry about half of the population and only concern himself with a small slice of the american electorate, including those who can fund raise for him and get him big contributions, but he's wrong on everything else. today, our troops who are in afghanistan are not paying income taxes because congress and the president agreed that while they're fighting out there, they should not be paying income taxes while their families are here in the u.s. does he consider them part of the half of america that he doesn't care about? my father worked all his life with his hands. he was a laborer all his life picking crops, building roads in construction. my father makes a fraction of what i make today.

i make a fraction of what mitt romney made. my father never asked for a dime. does mitt romney want my father to believe that while he never asked for a single dime from the government that he's not worth anything and he shouldn't -- mitt romney shouldn't have to worry about or pay attention to my father? i think mitt romney misspoke or he's telling us who he really is. >> well, let me ask you what you think the political upshot will be. and you know, we talked earlier about the fact that there was a similar moment in 2008 for barack obama in pennsylvania when he talked about people clinging to their guns and religion. obviously, it didn't hurt him. he won pennsylvania, he won the presidency. is this the kind of thing that you think can move the needle in what is still a very close presidential election? >> we're always trying to get, chris, a vision of who these people are who want to be president. we want to be able to see inside of their skin to see who they are. i think the mitt romney moment that we now have seen gives us a better peek at who mitt romney

is. remember, mitt romney's a guy that, unlike most americans, opened up bank accounts in swiss banks. he is a person who, unlike most americans, started a business on the cayman islands. mitt romney is a guy running for president who won't reveal the full extent of his tax returns. so, people want to take a peek at who mitt romney is, and the fact that we now got to peek into who he really is is giving americans a better sense of who he really would be if he were ever president. >> over the weekend, minority leader nancy pelosi said democrats have an excellent chance to take back the house. yesterday, though, senator dick durbin predicted republicans would keep control of the house, they'd keep control of the senate. where do you put the chances of a change in the house makeup? >> i think our chances are growing every day, not only because mitt romney is showing his true colors, but because when mitt romney chose congressman paul ryan to be his running mate, he made it very clear what republicans stand for, and the republican budget that paul ryan helped author

makes it very clear, republicans are for ending medicare, turning it into coupon care, republicans are for giving the very wealthiest, millionaires and billionaires, $5 trillion in tax cuts but not telling the middle class what they're going to do to pay for it, which ultimately will hurt the middle class. so, i think that's going to help us. >> there are analysts, congressman, who listen to things like what you said and what nancy pelosi said, and you know, 25 seats is a lot of seats to try to gain in any election, let alone a close election, and they worry that the democrats might, frankly, be getting a little cocky, that this has been a couple of bad weeks for mitt romney and the democrats might get a little complacent. are you worried about that? >> well, it has been a couple of bad weeks for mitt romney, but we are not getting complacent. democrats are working very hard and we've got some phenomenal americans running for office who i think are going to win us those 25-plus seats, because they are going to prove that they're not like mitt romney. they really do care about all americans, not just a certain slice of america. so, i think we have a very good chance, but it's going to be tough. there's a lot of money that's

going to come our way. these super pacs are going to broad-side a lot of our candidates and they've just got to keep pace and stay ahead. >> congressman, good to see you. thank you so much for talking with us this morning. >> thanks, chris. there's a lot of talk about this race. a third poll in two days showing democrat elizabeth warren leading republican scott brown in the massachusetts senate race. the suffolk university poll was out last night. it puts warren at 48% to brown's 44%, and it follows two polls that were released on sunday. although it's not all bad news for scott brown. the polls also show him with high favorability ratings. jack, you're a little boring. boring. boring. [ jack ] after lauren broke up with me, i went to the citi private pass page and decided to be...not boring. that's how i met marilyn... giada... really good. yes! [ jack ] ...and alicia. ♪ this girl is on fire [ male announcer ] use any citi card to get the benefits of private pass. more concerts, more events, more experiences. [ jack ] hey, who's boring now?

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domestic, abundant, clean energy to power our lives... that's smarter power today. to "politics now" where the president took a backhanded shot at mitt romney over taxes. >> i've actually done my own taxes. i don't know about some of these other folks, but i've done them, you know? [ cheers and applause ] so, you know, it's -- so, i know

we can make it more simple and more fair. >> the president will be on the ballot in kansas. republicans there finally ended their challenge about where he was born. the president released his long-form birth certificate last april. paul ryan complimented a crowd in iowa by calling them cheap. >> people in iowa live within their means. you elect governors who balance the budget. you're frugal. and the custodikuscustody b trip palin is over due to lack of activity. and the latest video sensation making the rounds with more than 13,000 views -- "you didn't build that" by mc obama. >> you didn't build that. mitt romney strikes me so hard, makes nae feel like shirley. out of context. those words aren't mine. private sector's doing fine. feels good when the economy is

week. responding with national security. osama bin laden i killed, and that is a mission you didn't build. ♪ >> we tweeted out the entire thing for your viewing pleasure. and if you read only one thing this morning, get this -- in cranston, rhode island, school officials have ended the traditional father-daughter dance as well as the mother-son baseball games because they say it violates the state's gender discrimination law. are they taking the law too far? it's up on our facebook page. let us know what you think, facebook.com/jansingco. any way you want. fully customize it for your trading process -- from thought to trade, on every screen. and all in real time. which makes it just like having your own trading floor, right at your fingertips. [ rodger ] at scottrade, seven dollar trades are just the start. try our easy-to-use scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade.

like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec® at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. it has arguably been a rough couple of weeks for mitt romney. first, the biggest speech of his life overshadowed by clint eastwood's stand-up routine at the republican convention. president obama got a healthy bounce from the democratic convention. then, romney was widely criticized for his comments after the embassy attacks in libya and egypt. and finally, the just-revealed candid camera moments that have

ignited a firestorm. well, the obama campaign is already trying to raise money off the romney video, but super pac support could come to romney's rescue. a new analysis by our first read team finds that 44% of all tv and radio ad spending so far have come from super pacs and outside groups. now, the lion's share of that super pac spending, 75% has gone to support mitt romney. let me bring in democratic strategist steve mcmahon and republican strategist john feary. gentlemen, good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> american crossroads just launched a $10 million ad campaign. mitt romney raked in $4 million at a california fund-raiser last night. could money essentially, steve, fix this series of problems for mitt romney? >> well, structurally, the race is close and remains close, and that's the good news for mitt romney. but the bad news for mitt romney is $500 million has been spent so far, and the only thing that's really moved the numbers has been the bump that the president got as a result of his

convention and the number movement that we saw, or we will see here soon, as a result of mitt romney's mistake. so, i don't think this is something that money can fix. i think the race is probably going to remain close to the end. but getting a three-point lead, which the president now has in just about every poll across the country, is a pretty significant thing given how close this race has been and how close it's likely to stay. >> so, john, what do you think the next step should be or can be for the romney campaign? they thought that yesterday they were going to kind of reset the message. they were going to go back to what they thought their strength was, some messages on the economy, even on foreign policy. but then this video comes out. what do they do? >> well, in my view, they need to start putting the obama record on trial. what has the president done? where has he been successful? and more importantly, where has he failed? and i think that laying that out and how he can fix it, how he can make things better, laying out an agenda where he can show

that he's a much superior choice and a much more credible president than the current president, i think that's what he's got to do. and to steve's point, this is still a very close election. there's been three weeks of gaffe after gaffe on the romney campaign and yet, it's still within the margin of error. one other point i would make, john mccain got out-spent 3-1 in the last election. mitt romney's going to out-spend barack obama, which is going to give him a boost going into the closing days. >> here's the thing, though. here's the thing, though. the money in a presidential campaign actually matters less than it does in a senate race or a governor's race. and what matters the most, as john pointed out, is what people see in the candidates. and what they've seen for the last three weeks is a bumbling fool on the romney side. and what they've seen in the last three weeks on the president's side is somebody who is in command, in control and somebody who offered a vision for the future. he told people candidly that it's been more difficult than he had imaged and progress has been slower than he thought. so, shehe's actually done

everything he needs to do and romney has done nothing he needs to do. every time he opens his mouth, it's another mistake. >> what about the upcoming debates? >> the three debates will be critical, but to steve's point, the president has not done all he can do. the economy is still in lousy shape. we have an international crisis in the middle east and north africa, which you know, the president has not really done much to deal with. and the fact of the matter is, the results are not there for this president. so, if the romney campaign can get its act together and stay on offense, i think they're going to still win this election. >> let me ask you more about some of the fund-raising that's going on. and there was $4 million at a $40,000-a-ticket fund-raiser for barack obama with beyonce, with jay-z at a manhattan nightclub last night. and of course, this evening there's an obama event hosted by "the most interesting man in the world." >> his blood smells like cologne.

he is the most interesting man in the world. >> i don't always drink beer, but when i do, i prefer dos equis. >> the guy in those ads, the star, actor jonathan goldsmith, is hosting a reception in burlington, vermont, tonight. but to the bigger question, which is stlr, is there a point which -- i don't want to say the money doesn't matter, steve, because the money obviously does matter -- but do you reach a point where there's just so much of it and both sides have so much, even if there's a disparity? there's only so many tv ads you can buy? >> well, you actually do reach a point, i think, where the money doesn't matter as much as the external events and we're at that point now. what mitt romney is saying and the mistakes he's making matter a lot more than all the money in the world right now because people are looking at him and wondering what kind of a president he'll be. remember, this is a long series that started really with the olympics where he went over and basically insulted our biggest ally in europe.

he came home and he's -- it's been one blunder after another through the convention. the clint eastwood chair thing, the comments on libya that were ill-timed, and frankly, didn't make a lot of political sense. and now we've got this tape that broke yesterday. so, the campaign is reeling. the knives are out inside the campaign and everyone's going after the top adviser. this is not a campaign that's going well. >> and john, are you at the point -- and i want to ask you as a republican strategist here if you're concerned. this is a candidate who, frankly, wasn't exactly igniting the base, you didn't have a lot of, like, enthusiastic support from a lot of mainstream republicans, and now when he's at this point, is he anywhere near in danger of kind of losing the republican party support of people running for senate, people running for congress backing away from him, the mainstream republican leadership backing away from him?

>> chris, i don't think so, and i think that mitt romney is not the greatest campaigner in the world, but i think everyone thinks he'll be a very effective president. i think president obama's a very effective campaigner, but he hasn't been a very effective president. and i think that republicans understand that they've got -- they've got to be all in this together. there's not going to be any situation where you're going to see house republicans or governors or senators running away from mitt romney because his message is a good message, which is we've got to fix this economy and we've got to get some confidence back in the white house. and you know, to steve's point, yeah, there have been gaffs by mitt romney, but the fact of the matter is that when it comes to results, the results for this president are just not good. >> john feehery, steve mcmahon, good to see both of you. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. also in the news this morning, royal officials say prince william and kate are happy that a court has banned a french magazine from publishing any more topless photos of the duchess and they ordered the magazine to hand over all of the original photos within 24 hours. the prosecutors office says it's

opening a separate criminal case against the magazine and the photographer who took those pictures. the fbi is investigating a phony hijacking scare at jfk international. police say the airport got a call yesterday afternoon claiming a hijacker and explosives were aboard two planes landing at that time. an american airlines jet and fin air flight were moved to an isolated area and searched. you can hear the pilot's frustration with air traffic control. he had no idea what was going on. >> okay, we're surrounded by emergency vehicles. there's a reason for this. somebody's got to give us the reason or we're going to evacuate the aircraft. you've got 60 seconds. >> well, the planes were cleared and one of them was actually carrying four air marshals. and do you know who this is? believe it or not, this man with the black eye is olympic star shaun white. police say he was arrested yesterday after pulling a fire alarm at a nashville hotel, destroying a phone and kicking a man while trying to run off. white fell and hit his head and was treated at a hospital. he was released and due in court

october 10th. the first fda-approved diet pill in 13 years is now available by prescription. qsymia is made up by two medicines that suppress appetite and cut down food cravings. the drug's maker says clinical trials showed a 10% loss of body weight with the pill. how about how the 1% spends its money? cnbc's michelle caruso-cabrera is here with what's moving your money, and i think some people might be surprised by the way the superrich spend. >> yeah, chris, there's a new survey out of couples that are worth at least $25 million and what did they spend money on last year in the biggest thing turned out to be charitable contributions. 48% of all of those worth $25 million gave at least $25,000 to charity and then 22% of those people worth $25 million gave at least $100,000, but what do they spend on themselves? 45% spend at least $25,000 on a vacation. that is a pretty swanky vacation. 37% spend at least $25,000 on

home improvements, so that's a lot of granite countertops and viking stoves. and then 22% spend at least $25,000 on jewelry. there may be some market-driven concerns there as well, chris, because a lot of folks are worried about coming inflation because of what ben bernanke's doing, so the wealthy may be buying things like hard assets because gold and jewelry may appreciate in the future if there is inflation. but -- >> $25,000 worth of vacations, okay. i'm going to figure out how to do that. >> it's a lot of money, yeah. >> meantime, for the rest of us, there's a new mc, and it's a mcnoodle. >> if you're in austria, mcdonald's is going to try the mceuro, about $6.50. they'll roll it out for three months in austria, because apparently, noodles are big in austria. they want to try it out to see if they can compete with the local tastes there. you see the advertising. you can get it with chicken, plain with vegetables and also with just beef. maybe it will make it across the pound to the united states.

>> i've never met a carb i didn't like. >> me either. >> michelle caruso-cabrera, thank you very much. >> thanks. forget spending all your money on big home renovations. some of the 1% are shelling out big bucks for new homes. there's a new report from coldwell banker that's highlighting neighborhoods where $10 million houses are just the norm. here's a few. malibu, california. bel air, california. aspen, colorado. miami beach, florida. and yes, right here, new york, new york. ♪ woman 1: this isn't just another election. we're voting for... the future of our medicare and social security. man 1: i want facts. straight talk. tell me your plan... and what it means for me. woman 2: i'm tired of the negative ads and political spin. that won't help me decide. man 2: i earned my medicare and social security. and i deserve some answers. anncr: where do the candidates stand on issues that... affect seniors today and in the future? find out with the aarp voters' guide at earnedasay.org

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dangerous. smoking hookah affects lung function nearly as much as cigarettes and contributes to wheezing, coughing and chest tightness significantly more than in nonsmokers. there's a growing number of calls this morning for a thorough investigation into what really happened in the fatal attack on the american consulate in libya that killed four americans, including the u.s. ambassador. u.s. officials say consulate security consisted of one u.s. regional security officer and the local militia which guarded the outpost. >> it is inexplicable and inexcusable that our personnel were not better protected. >> i'm joined by delaware democratic senator chris coons, a member of the senate foreign relations committee. good to see you, senator. is she right? >> well, chris, we should be and are concerned about the security of u.s. diplomats in our posts overseas. the reality is that we have to depend on our relationships with the host countries, because the

50 to 100 marines who typically defend our embassies, and in some cases, consulate around the world, really can't ever keep them secure in unstable parts of the world without the assistance of local police and armed forces. we do need to take a very hard look at where in the country -- where in the world we've got countries where we have embassies and consulate that are at real risk. the administration has acted swiftly to deploy more marines and more security services, and i do think this is a question that bears a close examination. >> well, senator lindsey graham says it's imperative there be a congressional investigation into exactly what happened. are you confident that we know right now exactly how all this went down? >> i don't think we know enough yet about whether this was a preplanned and organized attack, it was the result of terrorist elements that had specifically targeted this consulate, whether there had been a security breach or not. but the larger questions are what are we going to do in a half dozen countries around the region where the arab spring, the arab awakening has led to

significant transitions, whether it's in yemen, in syria, in egypt, in morocco and tunisia, in libya, elsewhere. we've got some real security concerns around the region. as the subcommittee chair for africa on foreign relations, i'm also very concerned about mali, nigeria, somalia, other places where there are real security threats. we need to continue to invest in relationships that will allow us to have a strong and vibrant participation in this region and to allow our diplomats and their other representatives of the united states to be safe and secure in carrying out their mission. >> as part of doing that, as part of making sure that, certainly the embassy staff and ambassadors themselves are safe in these very unstable parts of the world, do we need to know what happened? so, would you agree with senator lindsey graham that there needs to be an investigation by congress? >> well, i think it's important for us to come to a full understanding of what happened. whether that requires a congressional investigation or what i know is already a search and internal review investigation under way by the administration, i'll leave to

the folks on the relevant committee and subcommittee. i do think it is important for those of us who are responsible for authorizing and appropriating funds for diplomatic security and for the operation of the state department to bear in mind that when the bill comes due, that when we get asked to invest in a stronger and safer embassies and consolates that we stand up for the security of our diplomats and those who represent us around the world. they take on a very tough task. our embassies have to be open, welcoming places where folks can come and meet with americans, american businesspeople, american reporters, folks who represent our country, but they also have to be secure and defensible. and so, we've invested a lot in the decade since 9/11 in making sure that our embassies around the world are safer. this particular fact pattern's very troubling and i think we need to know more about exactly what happened and why. >> and the call by your fellow democratic senator, bill nelson on the intelligence committee, who wants to know what role al qaeda or its affiliates may have

played, is that a question we have to look into? is that a concern for you? >> that's a very important question, chris. as i mentioned earlier, in somalia and in mali, african countries that are not often on the front page in american newspapers, we've seen a resurgence of al qaeda-affiliated activity and we've seen attacks in nigeria as well. one of africa's most populous and strongest countries. there have been hundreds of attacks by boca haram, al qaeda and the in greb, al qaeda elsewhere have made a resurgence and i think we need to invest more in making sure that our intelligence community, our armed forces and our diplomatic and development folks around the world understand the threats that they're facing, that they're fully engaged and that we are responsibly leaning in as the threat of terrorism and potential attacks against american interests of all kind continue to rise in the region. >> and i want to ask you, finally, about the u.s. military's announcement that they're halting most joint u.s./afghan operations as a result of the alarming string of

insider attacks lately. the joint combat patrols, of course, are a critical part of the u.s. plan to withdraw from afghanistan by the end of 2014. is this a bad, an ominous sign? >> i do think it's extremely troubling. this is difficult for operational commanders on the ground and for our strategy. we've invested a great deal in training afghan police and afghan troops in partnering and in working closely together and in the vast majority of instances, that's gone well, there have been strong handovers, there's good partnerships, but these steadily increasing number of incidents where afghans are killing americans or allied forces in settings, in situations where our armed forces had reason to expect that they were working with allies, this is very troubling and i do think it's going to create some real challenges for us on the ground. if we suspend joint training and joint operations, that is really going to hamper our ability for a smooth transition. i know the president is committed to a full transition in 2014. it is something i think is

broadly supported in my home state of delaware. folks question why we still have such a very large presence in terms of our armed forces on the ground in afghanistan and when the afghans will be fully responsible for their own security. these recent instances where americans have lost their lives at the hands of those we were training and equipping and supporting are very troubling, chris. >> senator chris coons, it's good of you to take the time to talk to us. thank you so much. [ male announcer ] from our nation's networks... ♪ ...to our city streets... ♪ ...to skies around the world... ♪ ...northrop grumman's security solutions are invisibly at work, protecting people's lives... [ soldier ] move out! [ male announcer ] ...without their even knowing it. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. i was skeptical at first. but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference.

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a few hours from now, we could find out if 350,000 students at chicago public schools will head back to class tomorrow. nbc's chief education correspondent rehema ellis is live in chicago. good morning, rehema. >> good morning, chris. at 4:00 eastern time today, some 800 members of the teachers union will meet together in an effort to decide whether they will vote to end the strike, continue it or end it and allow those teachers to get back into

the classroom and the students to get back to school. no one knows exactly what's going to happen. it may take a while for them to reach their decision. on sunday they had only a 27-page summary of a 200-page proposed document, and many people said that wasn't enough, they wanted more time to go over the 200-page document. we hope they've had that time over the last couple of days and that they will be able to make a decision this afternoon. if it doesn't happen, tomorrow morning there will be an injunction hearing where the city's going to try to force them back in to school, if a judge will agree to issue an injunction. chris? >> rehema ellis, thank you for the update. that wraps up this half hour of "jansing & company." richard lui is in today. >> topping our agenda next hour, the video rocking the romney campaign. mitt romney standing by his remarks that nearly half of obama's supporters are dependent on the government. did romney just lose the race for the white house as some suggest, or should he follow the advice of some on the right who

want him to double down? plus, the other romney q&a making headlines this hour. jose diaz-balart joins me to talk about his sit-down interview with the gop nominee where romney insists he does not need a campaign shake-up. and 14 people killed in afghanistan in a suicide bombing, retaliating for that anti-muslim film made in america. now the u.s. is cutting off joint operations with afghan forces. what's next for the war? who have used androgel 1%, there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor

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